Buying lightbulbs can be confusing nowadays with such a variety of options available for you- Incandescent, LED, Fluorescent and the list goes on. Having the correct lightbulb (and wattage) for the job is crucial in keeping your home and your family safe.
The changes to lightbulbs is simple- safety, energy and cost. The average 60 Watt incandescent lightbulb lasts only 1,200 hours and uses 110 kw per year for a cost of $10.96. Multiply that by the average of 30 lightbulbs in your home and you have an annual cost of $328.59. Now let’s compare that to Compact Fluorescents (CFL) and Light Emitting Diodes (LED). CFL’s have a wattage of 13-15 watts with the average usage of 767 kw per year and a life span of 8,000 hours. This reduces your homes annual cost to roughly $76.65 per year. Now try the same figures for LED lighting. Light Emitting Diodes only require 6-8 watts using only 329 kw per year to submit the same light as a 60 watt incandescent bulb and last for roughly 50,000 hours. That’s over 4,000 times longer than the incandescent! Not only that, the average household cost to light your home with LED’s is dropped by 90% to an average annual cost of $32.58! Add in the safety features of LED’s and the fact that they help reduce greenhouse gasses from power plants and we have a winner!
No matter what type of bulb you decide to purchase, make sure you get the correct wattage for the usage. If a bulb has a higher wattage than the lamp it is designed for, the bulbs intense heat can cause melting and possibly scorch the socket and wires. This is one of the chief causes of electrical fires. Even if the bulb has been changed, the damage (and risk of fire) remains.
If you would like to read more on the comparisons of Incandescent Light Bulbs, Compact Fluorescents, and Light Emitting Diodes, visit this chart for detailed information including safety, environmental impact, and more.
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